Pages

Friday, March 30, 2012

I love a morning wake up with the sound of the rain and that gloomy sky gives me a sense of sooth, while I tried to laze a little under my cosy warmth quilt. Of course, this would only be great if it happens during the days when I don't have to rush for the day; prepare breakfast, get my boy's lunch packed for his school, get myself changed and ready to get out of the door.... Now started to appreciate weekends a lot, when I can really take my time to figure out what's for breakfast and even a very lazy lunch. The cool and relax weather 'supported' my lazy mode, at the same time I started to have ideas, of what new bakes to try out. But, I guess this is not too good , if it is an every day affair. Soon my mind will just be too lazy to stay alert. Thank the universe for giving me the right weather on the right day(s)! I do need this every weekend may I wish!

Zopt in Deutsche (German/Swiss) means braided . Hence this is a braided bread, a sweet bread that I twisted a little by adding some cheddar in it. And I omitted the almond flake topping, since no one in the family quite like the bite of it. The same recipe from Japanese Sweet Potato Bread, just change the shape and you get a Zopt!

There are some back lot posts I need to do, but today I find it's the mood to blog on this perfect rainy day. There might be some people prefer a sunny day for a weekend outing with the family or going for work. But, we do need some cool days after days of scorching hot week!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Roll cakes have always been our favourite cakes, as they are made of soft and spongy cakes. With the most basic double cream filling and some fresh fruit ( or any fillings) that even enhance the whole enjoyment of it. I have seen a few of our bloggers did this watermelon skin roll cake from the roll cakes recipe book by 孟老师。And I know many of our home bakers have this particular copy or even all the collection of her series. It is definitely worth buying the book as the recipe produces great results!

The green tea sponge is absolutely soft and spongy, which it doesn't make you feel too guilty to have more than what you wish. I really enjoyed every piece of it. I didn't follow the filling of the original recipe for the roll cake as I find it too much work to make the custard like kind of cream. So I did it the quick and lazy way - just double cream and fresh strawberries.

* Mix all ingredients to get a thick paste. Use a piping bag and fill it with the thick paste and set a side.

Sponge:

Unsalted Butter 25g (melted)
yolk 4
matcha powder 4g
caster sugar 25g

Egg white 3
caster sugar 60g

Top Flour 45g

Method:

1. Cut a very small hole of the piping bag that filled with thick paste, and pipe straight lines on a Swiss roll baking tray ( I used 28cm x28cm) lined with parchment paper. Use a tooth pick and drag short lines on each left and right side of each line to create the watermelon skin effect. Put the tray in the fridge after this step is done.

3. In another mixing bowl, whisk egg whites till foamy then slowly add in the sugar and continue to whisk till soft peak.

4. Slowly add in the egg white to the yolk batter and gently mix them well, and then sift in the top flour. Take a small portion of the batter to mix with the melted butter and return the butter mixture to the main batter and carefully mix till well blended . Pour batter over the prepared Swiss roll baking tray and even out the batter.

5. Bake in a pre heated oven for 12 minutes at 160'c. Once cake is baked, carefully pull out the parchment paper and place the paper over the sponge and let it cool.

6. Whip up the double cream and cute some strawberries for the cake filling. Chill the cake after it's filled and rolled up.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Yes, I am aware that usually bacon Epi made using french bread,but, frankly both hubby and I are not quite fancy with the hard crust unless it's the plain baguette or country loaf. We just wanna enjoy the soft and little sweet dough to go with the bacon and cheese. And Epi the 'wheat' can be in hard or soft bread form. So who cares?! Since my boy has yet to learnt to be a fan of bacon and cheese bun, I spared some of the dough to make his baby cinnamon roll, which he loves to eat them with a spread of chocolaty Nutella. I guess all are happy with their choices, in a cool and bright morning.

1. Except butter, mix all the ingredients to form a rough dough, then add in butter and knead till the dough become smooth and springy.

2. Cover the dough to let it rise for one hour or reach 2.5 times bigger.

3. Bring dough out on work top and deflate the air, reshape to a ball and let dough relax for 15 minutes.

4. Divide dough into desire portion for both Epi and cinnamon roll.

5. To make Epi; roll out a dough flat and wrap in bacon and cheese, then roll up the dough like Swiss roll and seal the ends. Use a scissors and cut along the dough about 3/4 deep in the dough and each cut portion place to the left and right directions all the down to form a shape of wheat.

6. For baby cinnamon roll ; roll put he dough flat , brush on some soft butter and sprinkle on with cinnamon and sugar, then roll up like Swiss roll. Cut the rolled dough with depth of 3/4 in three parts, then turn each cut portion out facing upwards.

7. Leave the shaped dough in a warm place and let them rise for 40 minutes.